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POLITICO LIVE: Second term preview

Romney did outperform John McCain, who picked up fewer votes in areas of Virginia most tied to the coal industry, but the numbers still weren't enough to topple Obama, who also won the state in 2008.

Even several Democrats in down-ballot races were victorious despite Republican efforts to tie them to Obama’s EPA regulations and other mandates opposed by the coal industry.

The result was that the status quo remained largely intact. Obama bested Mitt Romney in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and Senate Democrats emerged on top in those states and others as well.

And Democrats in West Virginia — Sen. Joe Manchin, Gov. Earl Tomblin and Rep. Nick Rahall — all managed to triumph as expected over opponents who sought to align them with the Obama EPA, a regular target in the state. Romney clobbered Obama in West Virginia, not a surprise in the state John McCain won by a little over 13 points four years ago.

Sen. Bob Casey beat coal executive Tom Smith in Pennsylvania. Ohio's Sen. Sherrod Brown held his seat despite constant attacks from the coal industry. Tim Kaine weathered a similar storm against him in his battle against Republican George Allen in Virginia.

And Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who was a heavy target of Republicans, the industry and conservative groups, beat back a challenge from Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg in a race where supporters of each candidate pushed the coal to forefront.

Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Jim Inhofe, a vociferous critic of pollution rules on coal, stumped for Rehberg at a late October campaign stop at a Billings, Mont., power plant that is slated to be shut down. The two Republicans blasted Tester’s opposition to Inhofe’s plan to repeal EPA air-quality controls that will fall heavily on older coal plants.

“The fossil fuel industry went all in on this election,” said Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund’s Heather Taylor-Miesle late Tuesday.

“He ran on his record of supporting renewable power and environmental protections and voters rewarded him for it,” Taylor-Miesle said.

To be sure, a few Democrats had worse luck. Kentucky Democratic Rep. Ben Chandler lost his seat to Republican Andy Barr after being hit by a barrage of “war on coal” ads and messaging. And Democratic Rep. Mark Critz lost his seat in coal-rich southwestern Pennsylvania where Obama didn’t fare well in either election.

And while it turned out to be an electoral-college blowout overall for Obama, his victory in coal country was far from decisive, giving critics of his coal policies something to crow about.

"The 2012 election will be remembered as the campaign for coal,” said Mike Duncan, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. “Millions of coal voters have been activated, and will be an important presence not just in this election but in the years to come.”

“These voters will be watching lawmakers and the next president carefully and will demand that the EPA stop its attacks on coal-based electricity," he added.

While the issue may have cost Obama votes, it doesn’t appear to have been the winner Mitt Romney needed.

Romney performed better in Ohio and Pennsylvania coal country than Sen. John McCain did four years ago. But much of Tuesday’s drop from Obama’s 2008 tally didn’t end up helping Romney — it was mostly seen as lower voter turnout.

In eight Pennsylvania counties that make up the heart of the state’s coal industry, Romney gained votes over McCain’s 2008 tally, improving by an average of more than 6.5 percent. But in each of those counties, turnout fell by thousands, and Romney didn’t collect all of the votes that Obama lost.

The six Ohio counties that produce more than 75 percent of the state’s coal were split between Obama and McCain in 2008. Romney picked up all three that had previously backed the president, and widened the Republican lead in others. But across the board in those counties, vote totals were down, indicating Obama lost votes that Romney didn’t gain.

To be sure, that trend didn’t hold in Virginia. In three major southwestern coal counties in the state — Dickenson, Buchanan and Wise — Romney opened up much wider leads than McCain won, topping those 2008 margins by 10 percentage points in all three. And vote tallies rose significantly in two of the counties. But in all, those counties added less than 5,000 votes to Romney’s total in the state, not enough to make up for Obama’s eventual 100,000 -plus vote victory margin.

Readers' Comments (8)

While it is convenient to blame the EPA for coal's decline in the electricity generating role, one needs to be a bit pragmatic and look at the cost comparisons with natural gas. The cost comparisons when joined with the environmental benefits of natural gas make it a no brainer for the power generating companies. They also can develop power with a lot less infratructure or coal storage areas, rail lines, and the manpower required to move the stuff around and funnel it into generators. While this does not fit into the political argument it does fit with the economic argument for power generation.

Obama wins the coal war and America loses a major source of energy production. What fools the coal mining states were to vote for Obama, it is like shooting yourself for some ideological reason. Maybe we can replace the coal mines with a few dozen Solydras!

Despite the false GOP propaganda, energy production is way up across the board from oil, gas, and coal with the US actually exporting oil for a change.

Coal, along with tar sands, are the most polluting of all the carbon-based, fossil fuels and the notion of a "clean-coal" is a lie and includes the issues of carbon dioxide and other toxic pollutants like mercury and sulfur. Coal's biggest problem is the glut of cleaner-burning natural gas though America will be plagued with water and land pollution issues for decades once the truth is eventually revealed about polluting fracking production.

Mike Duncan, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, “These voters will be watching lawmakers and the next president carefully and will demand that the EPA stop its attacks on coal-based electricity."

Apparently this hack doesn't understand the EPA rules put in place require that coal plants be clean coal plants. There have been no attacks on clean coal plants, just those that continue to pollute our air and water causing sickness in those that live by them or downstream.